The Campaign Finance Bait & Switch: Fair Elections Now Act

 

 

They're at it again. The same special interests who for decades have called for government-funded political campaigns?what amounts to welfare for politicians?are again pushing something called the Fair Elections Now Act . . . a proposal that would create anything but fair elections. Here is their bait and switch: They promise that if politicians can get the government to fund their campaigns with tax dollars?rather than having to actually convince voters to support them?politicians will somehow become "more accountable," elections will be "more balanced," and "new political voices will be heard." But what kind of results has this program actually created where it has been tried at the state level? It failed to lower the impact of special interests, it protects incumbents from challengers, it created a more extreme and partisan legislature and it excluded political minorities. That's what you get with government-funded political campaigns. The bottom line if you care about free speech and don't want a bailout for politicians is this: you don't need four letters to describe FENA. You only need two.

 

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